The Downs of Royalty
by BlackR05
Summary: AU- Princess Crystal has been engaged to the Prince of Hoenn, Ruby Grace. A commoner Crystal met before her first meeting with Ruby makes Crystal unsure of following the rules and marry Ruby or go against the rules and fall in love with a commoner. In a world with castles, dragons, knights, and fast food restaurants.{MangaQuestShipping}


Chapter 1- Engagement

 **Hey guys, this is my second story I've wrote and this may not be really good and I hope you like.**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own anything, Crystal, Gold, none of it.**

"Princess Crystal, you're father has summoned you," one of the maids opened the princess's door with a bow.

Crystal looked up and closed the book she was reading. "For what reason?"

The maid shook her head. "I do not know, he didn't state a reason. But he requests for you immediately."

Crystal set the book aside and stood up, brushing off the debris that got on her dress. Crystal walked through the door and down the stairs to her father's room. _Father never summons me when I'm in the midst of my studies. He never does that, why do it now?_ Crystal wondered on her way down.

When she entered his room, her father was looking out a window. "You were in need of me, father?" Crystal asked. Her father turned around and nodded.

"Crystal, sit down," her father said while sitting down on his bed, motioning to the area next to him. Crystal sat beside him. "I believe you have become of age," he started hesitantly. His eyes showed seriousness and a hint of fear.

Crystal noticed his emotions. "Age of what?" she asked quickly. In all of Crystal's life, she's never seen her father show any fear.

Her father sighed, "You have become of age to be married." Crystal gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"But, father, I do not wish to be married." Crystal said frantically.

Crystal's father shook her head. "It is not your choice to make."

Crystal furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean, father?"

"You have been chosen to be the bride in arranged marriage," he said sadly.

Crystal didn't care if it wasn't divine; she grabbed her father's shoulders roughly. "To who? To whom am I getting married to?" Crystal shouted while shaking him through anger.

He stayed calm though. He gently pushed her hands off his shoulders. "Another child of royalty. The prince of Hoenn, Ruby Grace."

"Ruby? But he's a year younger than me," Crystal whined, remembering from the research she read on all the current princes and princesses in the world.

"One year isn't much of a difference. We must unite the two regions to create peace" he explained. "He's visiting tomorrow to get to know you so I want you to be at your best behavior," he said. "That is all," he motioned to the door. "You may leave."

"But father-"

"No buts, leave. I must inform the region about this," her dad interrupted.

Crystal clenched her fist and walked out of his room, controlling her anger. She shut the door behind her and instead of going to her room, she ran outside to the castle garden. There, she released her anger.

"Stupid royalty! Why did I have to be born to this family!?" she cried through frustration and stomped on her heels into the fresh grass. "Stupid richness, stupid duties, stupid responsibilities, stupid, _stupid,_ STUPID!"

"Princesses shouldn't be so angry. They shouldn't stomp, shouldn't shout, and be mad at what destiny gave them," a calm, unfamiliar voice spoke from behind, making Crystal stop everything and freeze in place.

"Princesses should be happy and cheerful. Spoiled and selfish. You aren't like any princess I've met before."

Crystal abruptly turned around to meet with a pair of golden eyes. "And what would you…know…" she said, trailing off as she was entranced by the person's eyes.

It was a boy. He had jet black hair that peeked out of a yellow and black cap with goggles. He wore a commoner's uniform; a brown vest over a white shirt, baggy jeans, and sandals. And to add with that, he had a goofy grin on.

"Ahh!" she fell backwards, realizing a commoner had snuck through the castle walls, and fell into the hedge behind her.

"Woah there, don't be so shocked by my beauty," the boy joked, pulling her out of the bunch of leaves.

Crystal pointed an accusing finger to him. "What's a commoner like you doing here?"

The boy waved his hands to stop her. "Hey, don't need to point some fingers around. I'm just a little boy from New Bark town with a message from Princess Blue of Kanto."

"Princess Blue? What's the princess of Kanto doing in Johto, hmm?"

"I don't know, she just asked me if I could send a message to you."

Crystal crossed her arms. Blue was one of the princesses that she personally knew, why didn't she talk to her in person instead of sending a commoner to come here. But Blue was a spoiled girl who hated to do things herself, so Crystal understood her actions. _But why come all the way from Kanto instead of just sending the messenger guy._ "What's the message?"

The boy looked at Crystal in surprise that she didn't call the guards are something. The boy fished something from a bag that hung from his belt. It was a sheet of paper, neatly folded into a square and had "From Blue" in Blue's handwriting on the front.

Crystal snatched the paper from the boy. It said;

"My dear friend Crystal,

I've heard about the engagement! I was so surprised when I heard, I got into my carriage and rushed over here as quick as possible. But I felt like I shouldn't appear in front of you because, knowing you, you would be really angry at the time and would throw all your anger at me. So I sent this peasant for three reasons. (1) He was really swift and he could sneak in, plus Silver (remember him? My brother?) wouldn't do it, (2) he seemed like the guy who could make you listen, and (3) I wanted you to scream when you see a commoner snuck in.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you congratulations. People would kill to get Ruby. So, BYE! P.s. Give something to Gold, the peasant that handed you this letter, as a reward for coming all this way to give you this letter.

-Sincerely

Blue"

 _She's congratulating me?!_ Crystal thought. Crystal crumpled up the paper then looked up at Gold, who stepped back.

"Are you always mad?" Gold asked. Gold placed a hand on her shoulder. Crystal flinched at the contact with a filthy commoner. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, I could take you to a restaurant and get you a burger."

Crystal tilted her head. "Res-taur-ant? Bur-ger?" Crystal said, not understanding the terms. Crystal never heard of this restaurant or burger in real life or in books considering she only reads informal books and she NEVER went past the castle walls in her life.

Gold's jaws dropped. "You seriously don't know what a restaurant OR a burger is?" he questioned in disbelief.

Crystal was intrigued by this knew subject. "What is it? A fancy chair? An expensive object?"

Gold face palmed. "I think it's better just to show you." Gold grabbed her hand and dragged her over the walls and outside the castle walls.

Crystal gasped, realizing she just went past the walls which she never had in her life. "Why didn't we just go through the gate?"

Gold rolled her eyes. "Because, if one of your guards see me dragging the princess, they'd think I'm kidnapping you." He grinned. "Well now that we're outside of your sweet little castle, you can't be walking around in that get up, now can you?"

"But this is my favorite dress, are you saying that I have a bad taste in clothing?" Crystal asked.

"NO! That's not what I mean at all," Gold said. "If you are walking around like this, people will realize you are rich and want to hold you for a ransom."

"Then what do you suppose I do?" Crystal queered.

Gold pointed to the ground. 'Stay here" Then he ran off.

Crystal went to go after him but she had a strong sense of obedience and obeyed the order Gold gave her. A few minutes later, Gold returned with a couple of pieces of clothing in his arms. "Here, no one will notice you with this." He handed her the clothing.

Crystal looked at the clothing with disgust. "You expect me to wear this?" she questioned, pointing to the girl form of Gold's uniform.

"Is everything you say a question?" Gold took in a breath to relax himself. "Okay, so do you want the burger or not?"

Crystal did want to see this burger he spoke of, so Crystal turned around and started to change.

"You aren't looking, are you?" Crystal asked before taking off her dress.

"Nope," Gold said quickly. Crystal turned her head, to make sure he was telling the truth. Sadly for him, he was.

Crystal's fist tightened. "You LIAR!" she shouted, throwing her leg out at him, making him fly away.

"Man, for a princess, you throw a hard kick" he grunted painfully.

 _Serves you right_ , Crystal thought. _I hope I get this burger thing soon and end this. But this boy did make my anger disappear really quickly._ Crystal pulled on the commoner attire. _This is the most I've been interested in something for years_. _Why haven't I ever gone past the castle walls before?_ Crystal stopped her thinking when she had the entire commoner clothing on her and Gold appeared in front of her.

"Ready to go, princess?" he asked.

"Where do I put my dress and heels?"

He grabbed her dress and hung it over a tree and put her heels under it. "Oh and…" he rubbed her make up off her face and grabbed the bunch of pins in her hair letting her hair fall down. "There, now let us go!" He grabbed Crystal's hand and ran off.

 _Who knew people were actually able to run this fast_ , Crystal though, struggling on staying close with the boy.

He suddenly stopped, making Crystal fall. "We're here." Crystal looked up from the ground to see a hut made out of stone and the roof made of twigs. It looked totally different from the castle.

Gold opened the door and went up to the counter at the other side of the building. "Two hamburgers, two fries, and two sodas please," he asked the woman behind the counter. The woman nodded and said, "That would be $6."

Gold patted his pockets then cursed. "I left my wallet somewhere," he whispered into her ear.

Crystal lifted up her hand. "I can pay for it." She took out a $10 bill and slapped it on the counter. "Keep the change."

The cashier's jaws dropped. No one in her lifetime has let her have the change, they would just say, "Now give me the change." The cashier wiped her tears of joy away and smiled at the girl and handed her the food.

"Thanks for eating here," she thanked.

Gold took the tray of food and walked to an empty table. "Thanks for paying for me." He took a burger off the tray and took a big bite out of it.

"Well, it's the least I can do. You took me out of the castle walls for the first time in my life," Crystal said, looking at her burger like it could blow up.

Gold dropped his food. "You've never left the castle before?"

"Nope," she answered simply, taking a small nibble, her eyes brightening. "This burger is AMAZING!" she shouted, dragging a lot of attention to herself, not like she noticed.

"What _do_ you eat at your castle?" Gold asked as Crystal devoured the burger unmannered.

She swallowed a mouthful of burger then answered, "Well, we do eat salads, escargot, fruit, and nuts. What is this thing that is on the top and bottom of the burger?"

"Um, bread."

"What is this brown thing between the burger?"

"Meat?" Gold said. _Has she never seen food like this before_?

"And what is this _fries_?" saying 'fries' like it was the most fascinating this in the world.

"Potatoes," Gold answered.

"Oh and what is in this cup and what is this thing sticking out of the cup?"

Gold let out a breath of exasperation. "The drink is Pepsi and that thing sticking out of it is a straw. Any more questions?"

Crystal shook her head and started to eat again. Gold sighed out of relief and continued to eat. When they both finished, the sun was already setting.

Gold stood up and stretched. "Well, I guess we should get you back or your dad is going to send some guards out to find you," he said while they both walked out.

"Wait," Crystal said, clinging onto his arm. "Can you show me more of the outside world first? Pretty pleeaaase?"

"No, I can't risk what is going to happen."

"PLEEEEEEEAAAAAASSSEEE!"

"No, princess, I could get banned from the kingdom for this."

"PLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAASSSSEEE!

"Alright, alright!" Gold said. "Just shut up."

Crystal smiled proudly.

"Where'd you want to go?" Gold asked.

Crystal took a gander around the village that surrounded them. "Hmmmm," she hummed. She pointed at the horizon. "There."

"The beach?"

"I don't know what you call it but I want to go."

Gold sighed. "Fine." _How'd I get myself stuck in this mess?_

Crystal wasn't as serious as she was before they left the castle. Out here, she felt… free. She didn't want to go back. But she knew she had to, but she wanted to stay out here just for a little while more. Who would've thought that commoners would be this free while it is royalty that has to be trapped in expectations?

Crystal slid out of her sandals and stood on the warm sand. The fresh sea breeze smelled refreshing; she never smelled it before in her life. She's smelled the water from the water fountain but it always smelled like the fish that lived inside. The cold water washed up on her feet.

"You seem to be taking your sweet time," Gold said. "You seem anxious, is something the matter?"

Crystal sighed, watching the beautiful sunset fall, the hue of orange, pink, and purple around the sun looked majestic. "Well, there is one thing."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Gold informed. "But if you want to get it off your chest, blast away."

Crystal turned around to face him, appreciating how modest he was. "This may not matter much to you, but my father has arranged a marriage for me."

Gold's eyes widened. "Seriously? An _arranged_ marriage? But you haven't even become 20 yet."

"My father says that 18 is a perfect age to get married," Crystal said with a roll off her eyes. "What's more, I'm getting married to the Prince of Hoenn, Ruby. Not only is he a narcissist, he's mobbed by crazy fans, when I get married to him, I'm probably going to get murdered by one of his crazy fans!"

"That's sounds intense," Gold stated, showing empathy.

Crystal sat down on the sand next to him, not caring about how the sand will get her clothes dirty. "A husband is supposed to be a man who a wife can love with all her heart right?" Crystal asked and he nodded. "But, the problem is, I don't think I even know what the meaning of love is."

Gold put an arm around her, Crystal slightly feeling tense. "If you don't know what love is, I could tell you. Love is a feeling when you want to protect someone with all your heart, no matter what. When you see that person, your heart feels like it's flying, and when you don't see that person, you can't stop thinking about them. That's what love is in my definition."

After a moment of silence, Crystal smiled. "Thanks for listening to what I had to say. I'm very grateful."

"No problem," Gold said, his childish grin on.

Only the tip of the sun was visible and the world around them started to darken. "Gold jumped to his feet. "Holy crap, I forgot! We need to get you home."

He grabbed Crystal's hand and ran toward the castle as fast as they left it. They got too the tree with her dress and heels.

"Turn around," Crystal whispered. Gold quickly turned around while Crystal rushed to put on her clothing. She grabbed the bunch of hairpins and messily slid them into place. "Thanks for today, I hope I see you soon, Gold," Crystal saluted, climbing over the wall as she heard the shouts of the guards that were searching for her.

When Gold couldn't see her, he whispered, "I hope I see you soon too."

Crystal, on the other side, was blinded by the lantern that shone on her face. "Princess! What are you doing out here? Your father was flustered when he found out you disappeared," one of the guards spoke. "Hurry up, you must go inside. You have no idea about what lurks around here at night." The guard pushed Crystal inside roughly, looking side to side with a feared look in his eyes.

When they reached her room, Crystal asked, "What _does_ lurk around here at night?"

The guard looked like he was going to tell her but frowned. "I'm sorry, that is classified." And he slammed the door in her face.

Crystal was disappointed and plopped herself down on her bed. She lifted the skirt of her dress to look at the commoner clothes she hid there.

She tucked the set of clothes under her bed, hoping nobody would see it. She sighed, remembering her time outside the walls, her time with Gold. She shook her head. _I can't be thinking about a onetime thing or about another boy. I'm getting married and will probably be stuck in a castle for the rest of my life._

She laid herself on her bed and let her sleepy eyes droop into slumber.

*outside the castle*

Blue looked through her binoculars and smiled with amusement. "Tomorrow she's meeting Ruby, and in a month she's getting married. This is getting interesting. Won't it be so sad if I can't stop this marriage, my knight?" Blue observed, hearing footsteps behind her.

Blue looked away from her binoculars to look at the knight behind her. Instead of guards, like in Johto, Kanto has knights. Armor, sword and all. And the one knight Blue ordered to go with her was the **only** knight that _didn't_ want to come with her.

"Yes, it would be so sad to see a person I don't even know get married to a person who I don't know either," the knight spoke sarcastically.

Blue let out a hearty laugh. "Would it be a shocker if I paired her up with Gold?"

"I can't say that you won't. You can almost pair anyone up, princess."

"If I were to pair those two up, it would be a laugh to see how Crystal will react when she finds out who Gold really is. Won't it, Green?"

Green lifted the part of armor that covered his eyes up. He looked at the beast that flew above the castle. "I can't promise that I will laugh, but I can say it would be amusing."

 **There it is the first chapter of this story. Hope you liked it, if not, sorry.**

 **-BlackR05**


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